Oil exploration companies involved in drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas well installation use hundreds, if not thousands, of down-hole tools such as tubulars, drill bits, mud motors, power packs, etc. while drilling, exploring and completing oil and gas wells. Furthermore, much of the equipment required for oil exploration is found above-ground. Such above-ground equipment and assets include, but are not limited to, hand and portable powered tools, pipe systems, computer controlled machinery, hydraulic machinery, welding and cutting equipment, torque converters, clutches, transmissions, electric motors, pumps, heavy machinery, various parts and machinery on a derrick, rotary tables, top drive devices, test equipment, blow-out preventers, centrifuges, degassers, desanders, bell nipples, Kelly drives and mud pumps, just to name a few items. Some technologies utilized in the recent past help such oil exploration companies log individual tools into inventory; track usage of individual tools in drilling, completion and production operations; and ultimately record the removal of the individual tools from inventory when their usefulness has expired.
There have been systems created for managing inventories of down-hole tools or above-ground assets that are used in the drilling, completion, and production phases of oil and gas wells. In some such systems, a passive RFID (radio frequency identification) tag is installed on each asset and recorded or logged in inventory. By providing each tool or asset with an RFID tag, the asset can be tracked throughout its useful life. One example of such a system for managing inventories comprising down-hole tools used in drilling, completion and production of oil and gas wells is discussed in US Publication No. 2009/0055293.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,602,106 discloses an RFID piezoelectric device package comprising a plethora of components including a hermetically sealed device header that contains a piezoelectric device, which is then installed into the bottom of the radome along with an RF antenna, along with an impedance matching network and other elements. The drawback of such a device is the manufacturing complexity and the number of parts required to assemble the requisite piezoelectric RFID device.
As such, what is needed is an improved down-hole or above-ground asset tagging device that can withstand the high pressures, high temperatures, rugged and rough environments as well as the acidic and caustic environments that exist in the vicinity of oil and gas wells as well as in down-hole environments.